Time Only Stops For Us
by SaturnineSunshine
Summary: Big Fish throwbacks and post finale goodness/future fic.C/B destiny"There's a time when a man needs fight and a time when he needs to accept that his destiny's lost. The ship is sailed and only a fool will continue. The truth is, I've always been a fool.


**A/N**: So I was watching Big Fish because I remembered of the dramatic and epic scene (read the rest if you've never seen it) and I just had to write soemthing on it. It may seem OOC, but its a future fic and its really just another post finale because I just need CHair to be together. Its a compulsion. Anyway, quotes are from aforementioned Big Fish. I was really into it when I was writing it, so warning: Chuck is kinds OOC in this one. He's way dramatic but hold it up to the fact that Chuck Bass does grand gestures and all the time apart has made him crazy for her.

**Summary**: There's a time when a man needs fight and a time when he needs to accept that his destiny's lost. The ship is sailed and only a fool will continue. The truth is, I've always been a fool.

**Disclaimer**: Nothing is mine. LIterally. The idea isn't even mine. Influenced by Big Fish along with the quotes and characters belong to GG because it is a rare genius that comes up with Chuck and Blair. I hope I don't get sued. YAY 100 FIC. And there's a reason I chose to do this one.

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_It was on that night that Karl met his destiny and I met mine. Almost. They say when you meet the love of your life, time stops. And that's true. What they don't tell you is that when time starts again, it moves extra fast to catch up._

_-Big Fish_

Chuck Bass met the love of his life, Blair Waldorf, when he was four years old. His father was nouveau riche and no matter how much the socialites of the Upper East Side pretended to be enraptured by the stoic Bartholomew Bass and how he owned half of the Manhattan skyline, he was new money. And new money could not hold up to the likes of the Waldorfs or Vanderbilts.

Even so, he was feared and respected and when his teenage son would leer with that penetrating gaze of his and scowl at Brooklyn trash, everyone would soon forget because his father just bought The Palace Hotel.

Chuck was four and didn't know terms such as nouveau riche but soon came to learn the term "new money" which his newest best friend Nathaniel Archibald was even more ignorant towards.

Chuck was was four and he certainly couldn't comprehend the phrase "true love" that little Blair Cornelia Waldorf would swoon and speak of when his new best friend would approach. He didn't know words like "destiny" or "inevitable." He didn't use words like "magnetic" to describe anything other than... magnets, to be honest.

But Bart Bass said that the Waldorfs had prestige and for that, they would be feared and respected as well. The matriarch of their line was comparable to the patriarch of his and this was something that Chuck tried to comprehend.

Then again, he was only four.

Blair Waldorf's pretty mouth would stretch wide with the shrillest scream he had ever heard as he found himself pulling on her irresistible curls. He was then deemed a trouble maker so that's what he was. Things were so sinfully fun and Blair was a fool if she pretended otherwise.

The secret was, she liked it. And she perfected that innocent doe eyed look.

He didn't know how he came to torture that pretty little girl, but he just found himself doing it with unconscionable glee.

Chuck Bass met the love of his life, Blair Waldorf, when he was four years old.

He just didn't know it yet.

Chuck Bass met the love of his life, Blair Waldorf, for the second time when he was twelve years old. Newly deflowered by the disease infested scourge of the earth, Georgina "Psycho Bitch" Sparks, Chuck had just been introduced into the wild Upper East Side world of sex, drugs, and rock and roll.

He knocked right into Blair Waldorf as he exited the now empty room.

Blair had just turned 13 and was therefore better than anyone else.

"Ew," she said instantly and he knew she just knew.

But she was walking away from him and he wondered why he hadn't gotten the words _you know you wish it was you_ out of his mouth because he was suddenly watching her walk away from him.

And he wanted her.

Unfortunately for him, Nate had just asked her to be his girlfriend that night and time stopped for no man.

No man that didn't know he was in love yet at least.

The third time was the charm.

Chuck Bass met the love of his life, Blair Waldorf, when he was 16 years old. She was to turn 17 two days later.

He wondered vaguely as she stepped out of the limo in the heinous pilgrim dress why he never thought how hot she was as the older woman.

And how she was suddenly so very very single.

And did he mention hot? (That dress left a lot to the imagination. And Chuck Bass had a very vivid imagination.)

He didn't know why, but he suddenly remembered finding himself yanking on her curls, and remembering how he knocked into her with her pretty sneer and suddenly he heard the words _guard my drink_ and he hadn't realized what he had just done.

The most mesmerizing girl he had ever seen had just stripped her dress because he dared her to without consequence. For him she had stripped her dress. Because of him she was undulating to the music and time stopped.

"Who's that girl?"

"I have no idea."

Because time had stopped as she shook her voluminous curls around her face with her pearly white teeth and violently red lipstick.

_Who's that girl?_

_The love of my life._

Because time had stopped and he suddenly found himself sitting alone in the back seat of his limo with his hastily pulled up boxers. He was alone but her scent was all around him and her fishnets were in the corner.

It took him awhile to wonder _why the hell was Blair Waldorf wearing fishnets? _So long in fact that he heard the brutish words_ as far as I'm concerned it never happened _and_ you're officially uninvited _spit at him with such spectacular venom, he could have sworn it could have come from in.

He always knew they were the same.

_Never stopped me before he_ called after her (venomously) as Arthur miraculously knew to speed up and he stared begrudgingly at those stupid fishnets that had seduced him.

_Him._

Chuck Bass had been seduced and he knew it.

He had just met the love of his life. He only wished time would slow down for a second so he could catch up.

.

On his fingers, Chuck couldn't count the numbers of times that he gave Blair Waldorf, the love of his life, peonies.

**1. **"Jack set me up." He was standing in an elevator and she was on the brink of tears while he offered her his pitiful bouquet with its pretty purple ribbon.

It did not end well, to say the least,

**2.** "Our pull is as undeniable as ever." He had just traded her for a hotel (_"for sex!"_) and once again, had come on his hands and knees to beg for forgiveness. The anger that Jack had once again interfered with his salvation was even more encompassing.

**3. **"Forgive my confusion..." He waited on that rooftop for her but her simple _well I won't be there_ was cutting at him and true to his word, he didn't care if he lived or died. But she was standing in his penthouse with that same bouquet and then they were kissing and it was easy to forget his past discretions.

But then again, nothing good was to last.

.

Chuck Bass knew that the love of his life's favorite flowers were peonies.

He didn't need to be told that.

It was more than her beloved Nathaniel Archibald ever retained. Including those Audrey Hepburn movies he pretended to hate. But quite honestly, he always loved _Gone With the Wind_ the best. He knew she did too even if it was staring Vivian Leigh instead. (And he was always a Clark Gable man himself.)

On his fingers, Chuck couldn't count the numbers of times that he gave Blair Waldorf, the love of his life peonies.

Because it had been a hell of a lot more than that.

.

_It was that night that I realized most things that are considered evil or wicked are simply lonely._

"Her name is Blair Waldorf."

To be honest, when he helped pathe the way for her entrance to Columbia, he did not envision her joining a sorority. But she was determined to rule Manhattan, so he supposed it was one step at a time.

"Yes," he girl who answered the Omega Delta house roll her eyes. "You told me like a million times."

He was not liking this chick's attitude.

"Doesn't mean you're getting in."

His hand grasped the bouquet in his hands, knowing that by now, it was probably just a bad omen.

"Do you realize who I am?" Chuck asked quietly.

"Yes," she responded. "Chuck Bass. You told me that a million and one times. It doesn't mean you're getting in."

"It is of the utmost importance," he stressed.

"For you," she said. "We know."

"Who knows what?" he asked in confusion.

"She _told_ us," the girl said. "And if you're going to get back into her good graces, you're going to have to do better than a pathetic bouquet of peonies."

"She said that?" Chuck asked uncomfortably his sweaty fingers slipping on those _pathetic _stems. Bitches.

"No," the girl said. "I said that. But she did tell us about the French girlfriend."

"Did she tell you how I got shot-" Chuck tried.

"Not interested," the girl shrugged and tried slamming the door in his face.

College minions were a lot more loyal than the ones from Constance.

"Wait," Chuck said, putting his hand against the door, barring it from being closed. Even if he was Chuck Bass, he was stronger than the average sorority sister.

"Did she tell you how we're destined to marry each other?"

Okay, so he was getting desperate.

"Not interested," she shrugged. "But I can see how she fell for you."

As she slammed the door in his face, he wondered what she could possibly mean by that. It could be his determination.

But there was that Chuck Bass ego that told him it was because he was hot.

Because, hey, he just was.

_There's a time when a man needs fight and a time when he needs to accept that his destiny's lost. The ship is sailed and only a fool will continue. The truth is, I've always been a fool._

"Chuck."

It was good to just hear her say his name, even if he knew she was going to slam the door in his face. Again.

"You need to stop harassing my sisters."

Chuck couldn't restrain his snort as he leaned against of the door frame of the Omega Delta door that had been slammed in his face more than once.

She trained them well.

"First," he said. "I wasn't harassing them. I was attempting to harass you but you refused to answer the door. And second, I never thought that living in the same house with some bitchy girls constituted as being 'sisters.'"

"Chuck," Blair shook her head. And for the first time he saw the glinting on her finger and he wanted to wretch. "You know I'm engaged. Go home."

Him knowing it didn't stop his gag reflex when he saw it in person.

"I know you have spies everywhere."

He felt the tremendous weight of the box he had been carrying around since he was 18 in his pocket. (Even if he was turning 19 a few weeks later, but still.)

"Does it mean nothing that I wanted to marry you first?" he asked. He watched her visibly flinch.

This wasn't the first time that they had this conversation.

Not so much as a conversation but statements made followed by heartbreak.

"What are you, 12?" she sneered. "This 'I had her first' routine is getting old."

"But I did have you first," he said, his eyes glinting with lewdity. She closed her eyes and breathed out.

"Go home, Chuck."

Closing the door in his face was something that he expected. But the rage swelled and he felt the anger rush to his brain.

He knew he wouldn't be able to stop it. She didn't think he would do it. But she should know from experience that he was not one for simply rolling over and taking it. In fact, he was quite the opposite. He did bold gestures. Grand ones, because he was Chuck Bass.

She didn't think he would do it.

But he did. Because she did nothing but provoke him, as always. It was what she was good at. It was what she would spend the rest of her life doing. He would make sure of it.

He turned from his retreat back to the house, watching her behind the large window of her bedroom and he couldn't stop himself.

He knew she could hear.

He had never yelled a day in his life. Even at his father's funeral, he threatened in a begrudging whisper at the son who's father was responsible for his own father's death.

But this was different.

He had never yelled a day of his life.

But this was the woman he was going to marry and there was no time like the present for a bold gesture.

"Blair Cornelia Waldorf!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. "I love you and I _will_ marry you!"

The double windows leading to the terrace opened and he saw her on the balcony, looking down at him.

.

Blair never heard Chuck Bass yell a day in his life. But his shout reached her ears from her bedroom and she opened the windows to hear his proclamation and she knew she could never stop loving him.

She shouldn't have encouraged him.

.

"Wake up."

"Blair, you need to wake up."

Blair felt her sisters shaking her awake.

"How am I supposed to get my beauty rest in these conditions?" she asked petulantly.

"Your psycho ex-boyfriend is at it again."

The girls were in her room, staring out the window. She was about to approach the window before she was stopped.

"Don't bother. You're going to want to go out and talk to him."

Blair sighed in annoyance and descended the grand staircase to reach the doors. When she opened them, she couldn't help but not be prepared for what she saw.

He was just standing there nonchalant and as indifferent as always, surrounded by thousands of peonies that now dominated the yard of the Omega Delta yard.

"Oh my god."

She couldn't even see the grass.

He was smirking as though he had already won. His face was downcast and she wondered vaguely if he was hiding something.

"How did you get so many?" she couldn't help but ask.

She should have known the answer.

"I'm Chuck Bass."

She cast him a pointed look and he looked vulnerably down at his _Dior _loafers. She hated how precious he could be sometimes.

"I called everyone I could possibly think of," Chuck said. "I told them it was the only way I could get my wife to marry me."

"I never thought I would hear the day where Chuck Bass would be vouching for commitment," Blair said.

"Why not?" he asked. "I always did for you."

"Chuck," she warned.

"If there is one thing that you know I respect, it's the sanctity of marriage."

It wasn't like she could argue with that. That was why he never committed to anything. He wouldn't have been able to honor it. Until now.

"It's just some flowers, Bass," she said. "What am I supposed to say?"

"Tell me what it will take," Chuck said simply. "And you know that I'll do it."

She knew. Because never in his life had he ever refused her.

Except that one time in her bedroom with red lingerie, but then again, a means to an end.

And that's what she supposed all of this was. Because it would be worth it.

"Tell me," she said.

"What?"

"Tell me what you went through for that ring."

The ring she knew he was waiting to give her. Had been for two years. She had heard the story about Prague. She had heard about it from everyone but him.

And he knew it was the right thing to do. He knew how to play Blair Waldorf, the love of his life. But he wouldn't. Even though she was a hopeless romantic and he knew this story would do it for her, he didn't want to play her.

But he would tell her the truth.

Because he never refused her. The one weakness that Chuck Bass did have.

"I told them that they could have anything they wanted," he said. "I would give them how much money they wanted. But they couldn't have that ring."

"You are such an idiot," she said. But she was smiling at him and he liked it.

"So?" he asked.

"So," she answered. "Let's see it then."

He fingered the velvet ring in his pocket. "Let's see you take off that imposter's ring first."

"What ring?" she asked all too innocently. He grabbed her left hand and glared at the naked fourth finger.

"Waldorf."

"Well look at that," Blair said. "I seemed to have misplaced it."

"And he must have misplaced his fist in my face."

"What?" Blair asked aghast. For the first time he let the sunlight hit the side of his face and she saw the slight discoloration underneath his eye and placed her fingers to it. "Has there ever been a time in your life where you haven't been punched in the face?"

"Right now," he grinned. "That was my Plan C."

"Plan C?" she asked.

"I always have a Plan C," he shrugged. "If the flowers didn't work then I would have had your fiancée arrested for assault."

"You really know how to charm a girl," she said dryly.

"He was under the false impression that he was going to marry you."

"I still haven't seen that ring, Bass," she chastised gently.

"It hasn't changed since the last time you saw it," he said, gently resting his forehead against hers. She felt him play with her fourth finger absentmindedly as she closed her eyes.

"You had a girlfriend then," she reminded him. She pulled away sharply. "And I want to see it."

He grinned in satisfaction at his greedy little bitch, pulling it form his pocket. "I love it when you dominate me."

He popped the case for her and her hands hovered over it.

"Take it," he urged. "It was never meant for anyone else."

"That doesn't sound like a proposal to me," she said darkly.

He smirked. "Marry me."

"No," she shook her head.

"Excuse me?" he asked.

"No," she laughed. "I mean, say what you were going to say in the hospital."

He _knew_ that she knew that's what he was doing that day. All these years of playing dumb and he loved her more than ever.

"You first."

"This night is perfect," she breathed. He stared at her, fascinated that she could still remember to the detail that he could.

"There is one thing that could make it even better," he finally said. He exhaled, still as nervous as he had been then. "I am so sorry for the pain I've caused you. I know I can't take it back but I want to try and make it up to you. Even if it takes me the rest of my life. Blair, will you marry me?"

There was a stretch of silence and he was just relieved that someone didn't come out of the woodwork to punch him in the face.

"Blair-"

She cut of his confusion, pressing her lips fervently to his.

"That wasn't an answer," he said, pulling away.

"Yes it was," she said pointedly, wiping discreetly at her eye.

When Blair Waldorf met the love of her life, Chuck Bass, time had stopped. She was four, 12, and 16 going on17. She stripped off that dress as her curls cascaded around her face, knowing his burning eyes were all over her and time had stopped.

But here he was and she knew that Chuck Bass had finally caught up with it and he had the rest of their lives to do so.

She had his ring on her finger to prove it.


End file.
